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The Awakening

Although autumn officially arrived last week, it was still uncomfortably hot on Saturday. But we still managed to drive (about an hour) and spend a few hours at the National Harbor. It was nice to walk around the banks of the Potomac, enjoy the refreshing view of the Potomac River and watch from afar cars crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The place reminds of Bronte Park in Ontario because of the marina and the numerous floating yachts and boats of all sizes. I wanted to take a lot of photos, but the sweltering sun combined with the hot sand was too much to handle and finding respite from the heat was a priority.

For me, the highlight of visiting the National Harbor is to see the five-piece sculpture of J. Seward Johnson called "The Awakening." This sculpture was

Part of the 11th Annual Sculpture Conference in 1980, which included the installation of 500 pieces of public art throughout Washington, D.C., “The Awakening” is a cast aluminum sculpture depicting the arousing of a bearded giant. The piece is actually five separate ones – head, hand, outstretched arm, bent knee and foot – arranged in such a fashion as to suggest that the giant is breaking free from the confines of the earth. (Source: http://www.nationalharbor.com/Events.aspx?id=658)

The entirety of J. Seward Johnson’s Five-Piece Sculpture.

I wanted to take a photo of the Giant's face but every single time I try there's someone posing for a photo. I'd like to go back there again especially when fall temperatures have comfortably set in. Hopefully, I'll be able to get better shots of the sculpture.

Those sculptures brought me back thinking of our community back home. Lots of sculptors-- woodcarvers there are. The recent one I saw at FB was Mother Mary's somewhat 10-feet high wooden statue outside the Church...

hi Kayni! i sure love and prefer really big or small sculptures or wood carvings but not life sizes.. i'm btw a catholic and so used to the belgian style churches in baguio-benguet: just the blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph at the sides and the Crucifix in the middle. but whenever i entered churches in the lowlands where life-sized sculptures and carvings lined the sides of the church and the altars, naku, natatakot ako. ang hirap hanapin kung nasan na si Kristo...